An historic governmnent decision was made today, as The Supreme Court passed a decision to support our nation’s health care law. A five to four ruling was made, as The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act did pass the judges’ votes. The success of this legislation being passed is being viewed as a victory for President Obama and The Democratic Party. It will allow for the national government to gain control over how health care benefits are regulated throughout the medical setting of The United States, while allowing for the setting of an unified presentation of medical benefits, and setting a nationally-lead financing of these benefits to needing patients.

Upon the passing of this legislation, eligibility for Medicaid must be required for all U.S. citizens. Each state must accept the expansion of Medicaid into their individual legislations, or the states could lose national funding for Medicaid. This decision has made it mandatory for health care to be provided, which allows for a needed level of assistance to U.S. citizens who would not be able to afford the necessity without government help.

Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor all voted in favor of The Healthcare Act. The remaining four Justices, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas, gave dissenting votes. Their opinions stated that this act will serve as an imposition upon U.S. tax payers, and that it will allow the government to gain power over taxing U.S. citizens while they will not be accountable for how the taxes affect U.S. citizens.

Polls taken by The Wall Street Journal indicated that twenty-eight percent of U.S. citizens would like to have seen The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act found constitutional. This particular poll stated that an additional thirty-seven percent of U.S. citizens would have been pleased if the bill was declared unconstitutional, with the remaining amount of polled citizens being undecided. Additional sentiments from an estimated 1,000 polled U.S. citizens stated that four out of ten of them would have had mixed feelings if the bill had been stricken completely!

The upholding of this legislation will allow for the individual mandate, which requires U.S. citizens to purchase, or to maintain, health insurance by the start of 2014. Several U.S. citizens will not have to submit to this legal demand because of previous financial obligations. Yet, citizens who do not abide by these legal changes will face a one-percent tax increase to family incomes by 2014, and an increase to 2.5% by 2016!

Some public health organizations have expressed mixed sentiments on this ruling. The American Cancer Society, through commentary from it’s C.E.O. John Seffrin, stated concern for how the passed legislation might limit the quality of health care to some of the country’s most needy citizens. Health Care For America Now was “disappointed” by the decision, stating that it would be active in seeing that states do not act with measures to exclude U.S. citizens with the lowest incomes and insurance levels from receiving health care services through programs like Medicaid.

Young adult U.S. citizens whom have health insurance by law already will be allowed to keep the insurance. Citizens with pre-existing conditions will have their insurance policies to remain active. The law will require that limitations, exclusions, and unaffordable rates can not be imposed upon these U.S. citizens, as any such action will become illegal by 2014. Also, youths at ages under 19 will not have health benefits limited, nor will these benefits be denied to them, if they have situations of depleted health already.

There surely will be continued debate to how this all has been presented. From the base, it does seem that the passing of this bill will provide needed assistance to the medically needy and the financially incapable. However, those opposed to the legislation are stating that it will cut back the levels of needed insurance for U.S. citizens. Some statements are being made to indicate that many U.S. citizens will lose half of the money that they had been saving for health insurance in order to pay for the taxes that will be created by this newly-passed health care law. Yet, an overwhelming sentiment is that the passing of this legislation will provide needed health care protection to U.S. citizens who could not afford it otherwise.